Lakeside eatery wins ‘time-honored brand’ honor

Laozihao, officially translated as “time-honored brands”, is a government-recognized honor awarded to brands that have a long history and quality products or service.

Now the list of Beijing Laozihao has got a new addition.

On Aug 2, the Beijing Time-Honored Brands Association announced that Qing Yun Lou, a restaurant brand first established 195 years ago, had been officially recognized.

In 1820 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the original Lu-styled restaurant was founded in Shichahai lake in Beijing and soon won loyal fans among royalty and intellectual celebrities, due to its good taste and stylish environment, according to Wang Jing, one of Qing Yun Lou’s owners.

When the owner of the restaurant chose to close it, its chefs and waiters were hired by other restaurants and helped build the most famous Lu-styled restaurants during the Qing Dynasty, Wang said.

But as China went through revolution and social transformation, the old restaurant building became house of the Zhu family in the 1950s.

In 2002, the family established a Vietnamese-styled restaurant, among the earliest in Beijing, which continues to be very successful.

In 2009, the family reopened the Qing Yun Lou Lu-styled restaurant, based on recipes rummaged from documents and ancient books to serve authentic Lu-styled fare.

Liu Xiaohong, president of Beijing Time-Honored Brands Association, praised the restaurant’s effort to preserve and provide authentic Lu-styled food, saying the government’s determination to protect such time-honored brands will help them cope with changing circumstances.